5 Food Tips for Keeping Your Sanity

If you’ve read any of my previous blog posts it is fairly clear that diets and I don’t necessary get along well.  But I really like being thin and fit.  Oh, what to do?  Here are five tricks I use myself:

 1.       Use I Can’t Belive It’s Not Butter SPRAY

IMPORTANT NOTE:  The spray is 0 calories.  The regular butter spread is 70 calories.  ONLY BUY THE SPRAY!!!!!  It tastes like butter and makes things like gluten free toast and quinoa actually taste good.  Olivio is another brand I like and is usually a little less expensive.

2.       Vanilla Extract and Stevia in Coffee instead of the “good” stuff

Everyone it seems has a coffee weakness; mine is a Starbucks venti caramel macchiato upside down (so the sweetness would be on top with the espresso providing an extra kick at the end) with extra caramel and brown sugar to make it extra-extra yummy.  (And you wondered why I was a size 14?)  At home I could literally down an entire pot a day and I’d mix it with hazelnut and vanilla creamers and sugar.  Now that I’m eating healthy I want the punch of the caffeine without the paunch around my belly so I order one regular coffee and add one (ok three) packets of Stevia and a few drops of vanilla extract.  It tastes at least 85% as good as the real stuff and has 0 calories.  Let me hear you say What! What!

3.       Flavor Your Water and Drink It from a Wine Glass

When my friends came to visit and were having wine with dinner and all I could have was water I kind of felt like the lame high school kid at the frat party, so this is how I handled that situation:  I poured water into a wine glass and added some raspberries to the bottom.  The berries made my drink seem very classy and gave a nice reddish hue to the water so everyone forgot after a while that I wasn’t drinking alcohol.  And, of course, alcohol is a BIG no-no on any diet because you can consume 1,000 calories without evening touching any of the other food on your plate.

4.       Spices Are Your Friends

Poultry gets pretty damn boring after a while, so I like to throw different herbs and spices on it so I can pretend it is new and exciting and not just 4 ounces of chicken.  Garlic works well.  I’m a fan of pepper.  Mrs. Dash rocks.  If the Food Network is playing at the gym sometimes I will outdo myself and squeeze a lemon on the peppered chicken.  Oooh…Ahhh.  Just remember:  NO SALT.  Salt = Satan because it holds water weight.

5.       Protein Shakes Taste Better Cold

If I were a more organized person I would mix my protein powder with water and ice in a blender so it would taste like a chocolate (or vanilla, or strawberry) milkshake, but that would require me to clean the blender plus a cup and I’m totally opposed to giving myself more housework.  So I mix the powder in my shaker bottle and add crushed ice and stick it in the freezer for a few minutes before drinking.

Hope these tips help!  Stay the course fellow healthy meal plan follower!

Lisa

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